Snow Caving

Really!! Who does this and why? Conner and Jason went snow caving with the scouts. They spent all day digging their caves, then changed out of their wet clothes and went back into the caves to spend the night. Really?? All I could think about was being incredibly claustrophobic! But, they made it all night and didn't even freeze. I guess next time we are out in the frozen wilderness stranded we will know how to survive ;0 In all reality I am very impressed by both of them!

A snowy blizzardy day, but we were all smiles having most of our family skiing/snowboarding together!

Conner taking a jump! He only wishes I could keep up with him on the black diamonds.

Anika, after taking a year off, is back at it!!

And the newest - Lucas was on the hill for the first time and had his 'edgie-wedgie' off after the 3rd run. He was definately the easiest to teach so far and can't wait to get back up the mountain! He prompted me for the picture to the below, caption included!

So happy to have more than half our kids on the mountain!!

I took the 2 little ones to the small hill for Trey to try out his new snowboard. He has quite the balance and the most fun attitude to go with it! Greta liked the sledding, but not the waiting to watch her brother :)

gingerbread

Gingerbread men, gingerbread performances and gingerbread houses!

New York

There are 5 children 6 and under running around my house screaming, a kitchen that needs to be cleaned and laundry that needs to be folded. This always seems to be my excuse for not blogging (which like many of you is my only means of journaling). So here I sit . . .

My husband (aka: world's best gift giver (never forgets what I have mentioned I might want)) gave me a trip to New York to see Wicked for my birthday. And the lucky trip partner, Anika! The two of us took a red eye flight, made it to our hotel, visited the Empire State Building, and were on our way back from the Statue of Liberty when we called Jason as he was waking up in the morning. Time is so weird that way.

Can you spy me and Anika on the megatron in Times Square?

I had seen Wicked once before and Anika was dying to see it. She had become familiar with the musical when her production company did a medley of Wicked songs. It was a fantastic show!

I don't know, however, which won over her heart more . . . Wicked or the American Girl store. A little girls paradise!
After bussing, taxying, subwaying, and walking and walking all over Manhattan in chilly weather I heard no complaints from Anika. Then, we made it over to New Jersey.

If you know the show

This was our next stop, and the wait in line ended up being totally worth it. The best pastry (canolli) I have had. We also brought home a delicious cake to share with the boys while watching an episode. . .

She was a terrific travel buddy and we had such a great time! Thanks Jasy!!

Merry Christmas!!

This really should be a picture of my darling husband, but he had a little helper. With our anniversary a day away Jason took Trey on some errands. When they came home Trey jumped out of the car and with the most sincere smile said, "I am not even going to tell you that Dad and I got you a chocolate cake and flowers." Trying to stifle my laugh I said, "You're not going to tell me, huh?" Trey resolutely said, "Never!" ~ That is what you get when a 3 year old keeps your secrets!

Family "Staycation"

A highlight of our family vacation, "A Minute to Win It"! Ha! Ha! Thanks for coming out guys!

One of these things is not like the others . . .

Did you guess correctly?

Trey loves a tub full of toys. Religiously, after dumping all the toys the "little guy" would come flying out. Funny! I finally asked him "why?" Trey told me, " I don't like him, he doesn't have any powers!" Who knew!

Best of "what's up with us!"

Conner - lifting weights and loving it ~ crazy!

Anika - turning into an Oompa Loompa ~ Draper Theatre!
Lucas - has his wife picked out- they are going to be superheros when they get married!

Trey - staying dry at night!

Greta - sleeping 10 hours at a time ~ loving her Momma!

Life with Brothers!

Sweet, sweet, sweet is all we have to say about this little Greta! She puts up with all the big brothers put her through!

This one gave us a good laugh when we turned around and Trey had turned her into a clown!

What blog?

I don't know if there will ever be a "back to normal", but our little angel is here and what a blessing she is. We were a little nervous that we might have a high maintenace baby on our hands when all she wanted was to be held for the first few weeks or she would let you know what developed lungs she had. . . Greta has now leveled out and decided that she will be a patient #5, ready to smile at anyone who will look at her! Now if I can figure how to manage it all . . . advice welcome here.

Random info: For those of you who know Jason well - he just bought a fire truck (a real one). More to come on that . . .

"Current Condition"

I really did think just about everyone knew. But Sunday told me a different story when 2 ladies in my ward asked the question, both assuring me theya had confirmed their suspicions with others first. So, yes I am expecting - not purely gaining weight. This is baby #5, for those who are counting. I have had several responses, including "You are crazy!" Am I? Maybe. But thrilled also.

A couple of weeks ago I could stand it no longer, I really wanted to know the gender of this baby. So after Conner's lacrosse game was cut short I convinced Jason to call Fetal Photo at the mall. I had seen the place often, but never ventured in. We were able to slip in just before they closed, with all 4 kids in tow. Jason asked if they could come watch. Could they ever, the studio had theatre seating with a big screen ! We saw the darling profile and then this . . .

Anika, Lucas and I were all teary at this point! A SISTER!! And yes, we did then shop for baby girl clothes. We are excited for this little bundle to come in November!

SGTRI

A great weekend in St. George which didn't actually include the St. George Triathlon, for me anyway! I opted out of the triathlon due to my current condition :). I knew it would be difficult for me to be at the race and not participating - but really, I was a little ridiculous. After overcoming that little jealousy issue the weekend was perfect. Great ladies, good food, relaxing time at the pool, bike rides in the morning and just a little shopping. Pretty incredible to pull off - 8 ladies for 3 days, leaving a total of 26 children at home helping their dads get together great plans for our Mother's Day return!! (And in the end I slipped in and ran the 3rd leg of the race)

Where do I go with this?

Anika came home from school frowning at the results of this spelling test, now, really, look at the grade. She gets 100% every week, but has been getting an A- on her writing. This does not make her happy! I gave her some pointers on how to write her letters and the following resulted. But, her only comment was, " I wanted an A+, I tried really hard!"

Her only true smile came after I talked to her teacher who told me she never gives out an A+. What am I to do with such a perfectionist?? I'm sure there are those who can relate to her, but it just isn't me.

We finally did it!

The HAIR - I don't know what it is about this kid, but we have always kept his hair long. His hair was long on top when he was born and just kept growing. It is definitely called "blond" in our family and so smooth and soft. So, we let it grow.

His comments about his hair (disregarding comments from other people), have been so fun:

-At 3 years - "Why is my hair not black like everyone else's?"

-At 3 years - "Do I have those things?" "Eyebrows?" "Yes"

-At 4 he was looking at a picture of himself at 1 1/2 yrs - "Why did I have girl hair?"

-At 4, many times a day, "Luke, what are you doing?" "My hair!" (He would spray it with water and brush it, just so it looked perfect.)

-At 4, several times, - "Can I please cut my hair like Kai's?" (His friend with a buzz)
-At 4, after the cut, - "Will Aunt Shelly still call me 'surfer boy'?"
-At 4, after the haircut, to his preschool teacher - "Now I don't have to move my hair to see!"

Good thing I finally gave in and cut it, the poor kid can finally see! It was a little traumatic, for me anyway. Jason filmed the whole event! And, Lucas does look rather cute!!

Nose Job

He did it! Jason's nose might actually have passage! Four weeks after Jason's sinus surgery we are still a little unclear of the final results . . .

Jason has been continually sick for lets say (oh, I won't, he will definitely argue it with me). BUT, long enough that I was done! I was not the one sick, but I'm sure I complained the most.



Anyway, Jason has never really been able to breath through his nose and during allergy season it is total blockage. Beyond this, he was sure he had arthritis, his joints had been giving him a lot of trouble, and he had gone through a few major doses of antibiotics. After a good friend of ours, and doctor, told him to be careful he could get a brain infection, we decided to get serious. Jason first went to a rheumatologist who, after several tests and x-rays, told him he had a little arthritis and A LOT of fluid in his joints. The only way it could have this much fluid would be from a chronic infection. Voila! Back to the nose and constant sinus infections! So, now on to the ENT. Surgery was scheduled.

DAY OF SURGERY: I laugh at my approach to situations and life in general. An example . . . Jason was scheduled for surgery on a Friday. We wouldn't know the time until the night before, but luckily Jason's mom was in town and available to watch the kids. When we found out the surgery was going to be at 11:30 a.m. and last a couple of hours. I figured, great! we will be home by 2:30 p.m., Jason will sleep and I will finish my list of errands, etc. HA! By 3:30 p.m. the doctor finally came out to tell me the surgery was more in-depth than he had anticipated due to build-up of the bone from infection, but Jason should be coming down to recovery in 1/2 hour. By 4:30 I get a call from the nurse, "I'm sorry, I should have called you before. Jason keeps telling us he can't breath. We gave him a breathing treatment, but every time he falls asleep he stops breathing. The doctors think we might be able to send him home, but I really think he should stay overnight." Up until now I was pretty calm, but not breathing?? She would call me when they sent him to recovery. Another 1/2 hour goes by and I get a call to go to room 5, I wait, and wait - no Jason. Finally, after another 25 minutes I get snoopy and start looking around. Jason is in a different room! That's when my tears want to come, but I don't enjoy being the weepy wife. I realize that the anesthesia has set in so deep that Jason's breathing drops off when he sleeps and has to stay on oxygen. We ended up staying overnight, my parents kept the kids, and Jason kept growling at the machine that beeped every time his oxygen got low. So, I didn't get any errands done that afternoon ;)

All in all, we are optimistic about the results and he has been healthy since!

. . . a plug

My sister-in-law has put together this cute blog to sell a couple baby items. Take a peek, it is cute! www.mysugababy.blogspot.com

Party Time!

Anika is turning 8 in two days. She is a St. Patty's Day girl, which has made that holiday something special at the Grimes'!

It seems to not be too popular anymore, but I throw a party every year for my kids. What can I say, I just love talking about and planning this special time with my kids. Forgive me, those of you who get an invitation every year!

So, in celebration, we had 15 screaming girls at our house for a late over pajama party. (For those of you who don't know "late over" it is the euphemism for "no you can't have a sleep over").

Here are some highlights:

Dance Dance Revolution on the Wii

Karaoke


Pillow Fight


A Little Drama (what is a girl's party without some)


The Wild Card (throw a big brother in the mix and the screaming increases by volumes)

All said, everyone seemed to have a great time! And, no, nobody got hurt!

It's out!

. . . well 4 days ago it came out. After many attempts at pulling with floss and even more offers to use pliers, out it came as the result of the desire to eat a sandwich. Lucas was sitting eating lunch frustrated that he couldn't bite his sandwich. I convinced him to let me "see" that dangling tooth with a napkin. One slight tug and out it came! What a thrill! If I though he was showing anyone and everyone his loose tooth I was in for a big surprise with the amount of times he shoves this darling toothless grin at people.

Here is the truth of the matter for those little ones who are wondering why him and not me???

Lucas bumped his mouth (and i actually mean smacked it really hard) on the table when he was 1 year old. So . . . he has been in the process of losing it for quite some time. Now we will see how long he is without a tooth. This is actually okay with me - he is too little for those large, bumpy, yellowish teeth that replace the darling little ones. I just am not ready for it. And the benefits = he can fit a variety of objects through that great space!!

"The best day of my life!"

We have taken the theme of February being "Dental Health Month" to heart. I took my kids to the dentist to find out (Hooray!) we have no cavities! Also, looking at the x-rays, all three are 2 years ahead in their growth of teeth. This news is okay, so far, since all of them have enough room for these large permanent teeth in their mouths. Large heads and big spaces are doing us good! Next, the Tooth Fairy visited our house twice in one week - Conner first and Anika the next day. This is where the "best day" came in. Lucas (mind you he is 4, he keeps reminding everyone) was doing his best brushing his teeth when lo and behold a loose tooth! He came running into the next room to tell me this fantastic news. Truly? Truly! That little front top tooth was wobbling to and fro. "This is the best day of my life!" exclaimed Luke, and proceeded to tell anyone who would listen "I have a loose tooth and I am still FOUR!" That little tooth is still hanging on, but is bound to drop soon. I will keep you apprised.